Dangerous when you can feed your own GAS...

Steve_Sawyer

Steve_Sawyer

Blues Newbie
Hey folks - I'd hoped to show this off with a recording for the Mike Bloomfield challenge, but couldn't get my solo up to scratch enough to participate in time.

Anyway, this is my latest build. I think I posted my first build (a Seafoam-green Telecaster copy) a couple of years ago. This one would have been in my hands sooner, but I had to take many months off to get a new queen-sized bed built right in the middle of this build, but I'd estimate the total time to get this one done at about 6 months. It was going to be much simpler (no binding on the headstock, no volute, no backstrap, no MOP inlays etc.) but as I went along, I kept saying, "Oh - I think I can do that".

Anyway, this turned out every bit as good as I'd hoped, and being my first humbucker-equipped guitar, it's been a blast to get some new tones out of my rig!

The body and neck are quarter-sawn ("ribbon-stripe") sapele, which is very similar to mahogany. The front of the body as well as the front and back of the headstock are veneered with "pommele" sapele. Fretboard is ebony, inlays are mother-of-pearl. Stewmac Golden Age "Parsons Street" humbuckers, EVO fret wire, Schaller roller-bridge, and cheap GFS locking tuners. The tuners work ok, but had some sharp edges that I had to sand off with some 2000 grit sandpaper, as they kept breaking strings! :(

The finish is Brite Tone waterborne instrument lacquer, 12 coats, applied with a brush (I don't have a spray rig or space to run one), then sanded and polished.

Lester Full_s.jpg

Lester Body_s.jpg

Lester Headstock_s.jpg
Lester Headstock Back_s.jpg
 
CaptainMoto

CaptainMoto

Blues Voyager
Beautiful!
Some really good looking wood there.
Congrats on fine piece of work(y)
I'd be afraid to play it.
I'd just hang it on the wall and admire it.
 
ervjohns

ervjohns

Blues Junior
Wow, that’s a beauty for sure. I have assembled a few guitars but I can’t even imagine the skill and patience it would take to do a project like this. Well done!

Erv
 
Steve_Sawyer

Steve_Sawyer

Blues Newbie
Thanks for the kind words, guys! I have to say that I really love this. When building furniture, there is always a point that you begin to ask "why did I ever start this?", and you just want to be done with it. Not so with building a guitar. I enjoyed it right up through that final polish and installation of the electronics and hardware, and as I put the finishing touches on it, kept thinking ahead to the next build (which will be a 4-string short-scale bass taking some design cues from both Alembic and Parker guitars).

@mark/sdbrit68 - I assume you're asking about the clear coat, as there isn't any "paint" on it - it's all natural wood without any dye or stain. All guitars, whether they are stained, dyed or "painted" solid color(s) are finished with either a matte or gloss clear-coat. Gloss is more common. Though the matte finishes are stunning, they will eventually become shiny wherever they are touched, like the back of the neck and the upper edge of the lower bout where your arm rests.

Depending on what you use (waterborne lacquer like I did, nitrocellulose, urethane, oil) and the type of wood, you need to fill the pores of the wood to give you a perfectly smooth foundation for the finish. I use epoxy (about 3 coats) sanding between each coat. Then you start laying on the clear coat, either by brushing or spraying. Some finishes require "level-sanding" - taking out the high spots - every few coats. The finish I used lets you put on all the coats over several days (I applied 12 coats) before having to level-sand with 800 grit sandpaper. The finish is then sanded with progressively finer grits - 1200, 1500, 2000 grit - being careful to NOT sand through the finish, and getting the surface to perfectly flat and uniform. Last step is to polish with automotive polishing compounds and a buffing wheel - again taking care not to burn through the finish - until you have a mirror-like gloss. At this point, I saw flaws that I couldn't live with, and backed up to 1500 grit, sanding to remove those flaws, then coming back up to 2000 grit and re-polishing.

It's not really hard, but takes a lot of time and patience. You put on some good music in the shop, or some good podcasts, get "in the zone" and just work carefully and methodically and it all comes together. The only real "trick" is that not-sanding-through-the-finish bit, but once you have done it once successfully, it's no big deal.
 
S

Slofinger

Blues Junior
Very nice. I build guitars from scratch as a hobby, so I know what it takes. You appear to have mastered it. My sort of trademark is a sand through. I do like using Crystalac clear, but after seeing your results and process, I think I need to do more coats.
Again, very impressive.
 
Steve_Sawyer

Steve_Sawyer

Blues Newbie
Slofinger said:
Very nice. I build guitars from scratch as a hobby, so I know what it takes. You appear to have mastered it. My sort of trademark is a sand through. I do like using Crystalac clear, but after seeing your results and process, I think I need to do more coats.
Again, very impressive.
Click to expand...
Thanks! But as to "mastery", I still have a long way to go. Every flaw screams at me! :rolleyes:

As to sand-throughs, I sanded thrrough on a test piece w/8 coats, so bumped it to 12. I think you can get away with 8 if spraying as the coats are much more uniform in thickness. Also, I learned to never touch the edges when sanding, just barely bring the edge of the sanding block to - never over - the edge. Finally, the shiny spots that appear when level sanding are your "depth gauge". Get them small and uniform before going to 1200. Then ideally they finally disappear when you get to 2000. Those shiny spots being the thinnest points in the finish, you're confident that you aren't going to go through it.
 
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